Hotel Tax Proposal In Trouble

May 1, 1991|By AMY STROMBERG, Staff Writer

TALLAHASSEE -- Fort Lauderdale`s higher hotel tax, which last week appeared to be on its way to becoming a sure thing, struggled to survive on Tuesday as the final hours of the legislative session neared.

Sensing that the hotel tax was attached to a troubled bill, Broward County legislators scrambled to find a safe home for it, but failed.

Leaders of the House and Senate have said that the session will end by noon today, giving legislators little time to find a way to push the hotel tax proposal through.

Mackenzie said the Broward legislative delegation will try to find another bill for the bed tax, which failed to make it out of committee and therefore cannot stand on its own.

But what makes that political maneuver difficult in the waning hours of the session is that to be added to another bill, the subject of the amendment must to be related to the bill.

The hotel tax would grow to 4 percent from 3 percent under the proposal. The new revenue would finance bonds that would help pay for overhauling a blighted beachfront area near State Road A1A and Las Olas Boulevard.

The hotel tax is now part of a bill that would allow Dade County to use an expanded tourist tax for a motorsport track. But there are so many amendments added to the bill that it may be defeated.

The motorsport bill has been approved in the Senate, but only part of it has been approved in the House, which means it must return there before going to the governor.